AIMS India Foundation is a non-profit organization, tax exempted under section 501(c)(3), which seeks to bring out social and economic change, locally and in rural India.

We work towards strengthening and empowering rural communities by facilitating access to quality education, providing better infrastructure in schools and empowering the underprivileged by providing interest free loans to individuals. We also work in restoring water bodies to help farmers in water starved regions.

We train runners for the half or full marathons and raise funds through this program.

Athletes Serving Athletes (ASA) is a non-profit organization that brings people together to experience the joy, excitement, and thrill of competition. ASA offers innovative athletic training, supportive mentor relationships, and high quality endurance events for athletes living with disabilities. ASA uses athletic activity as a catalyst for personal development—improving physical fitness, increasing self-esteem and empowering challenged youth to meet their highest potential. We inspire all people to give of themselves and live more active lifestyles, pursuing a high quality of life and achievement. Our WINGMAN Program is specifically designed to empower ASA athletes living with little to no mobility, but whose hearts hold the desire to race in mainstream running events, the opportunity to compete. Each of these ASA athletes is supported by his or her own unique WingMan Team. We look to volunteers to raise money and awareness for Athletes Serving Athletes serving as a WingMan or a member of the ASA Road Crew which does not physically “push” an athlete. For more information please visit our website here or contact us at [email protected] with any questions.

Back On My Feet

Back On My Feet (BoMF), a national organization operating in 12 major cities coast to coast, combats homelessness through the power of running, community support and essential employment and housing resources. Back on My Feet seeks to revolutionize the way our society approaches homelessness. Our unique running-based model demonstrates that if you first restore confidence, strength and self-esteem, individuals are better equipped to tackle the road ahead and move toward jobs, homes and new lives.

Teammates who join our Back on My Feet Baltimore Running Festival Team will receive a unique BoMF training plan, long run company, a special UnderArmour team t-shirt, pasta party at the Marriott before the race, race day breakfast and lunch, race day bag drop, additional events and swag, and the ability to run alongside our members on the race course as we transform lives one mile at a time.

Team CASA for Children is on a mission to ensure that every victim of child abuse and neglect grows up in a safe, permanent home. Why? Because all children need Heroes, but abused and neglected children need Super Heroes!

Today, more than 5,000 children are under court protection in Maryland, most of whom will drift in and out of foster care for an average of three years before reaching safe, permanent homes.

Join Team CASA and run (or walk) with 160+ peers to raise funds and awareness for Maryland CASA Association, a private, non-profit organization that recruits and trains adult volunteers to become advocates for abused and neglected children in the Child Welfare System.

Each participant will receive a Team CASA performance race shirt, a personal fundraising page, and access to the Team CASA tent on race day for pre-and-post race food and drink.

Ready to join the team? Please do so by registering via our website www.GoTeamCASA.org today! To ensure that you make it on our team’s roster, please DO NOT register via the Baltimore Running Festival website and register with us directly at www.GoTeamCASA.org.

The Claire Marie Foundation was established in 2014 to honor Claire Wagonhurst, a 17 year old Notre Dame Preparatory athlete and artist who lost a three year battle against adolescent melanoma. Claire developed melanoma simply by going through hormonal changes of puberty; a risk few knew existed.

Claire’s diagnosis and loss revealed a huge gap in awareness of the disease in young people. In fact, melanoma is the second most common cancer in young people under the age f 29 and it is not always caused by the sun. Genetics and hormonal changes such as puberty and pregnancy can prompt the disease.

Today, the Claire Marie Foundation honors Claire by striving to prevent the onset of melanoma in young people through awareness, education and prevention.

CMF offers free skin screenings to hundreds of young people in Maryland, detecting precancerous moles in 20%. The CMF Collegiate Ambassador Program bring educational prevention programs to thousands of college students nationwide. Our professional collaboration with Johns Hopkins Dermatology is striving to better prepare pediatricians to detect melanoma in their young patients.

To run for the Claire Marie Foundation in the Baltimore Running Festival, contact Marianne Bannister at [email protected].

How far would you run for a cure? Join Team CF at the 2018 Baltimore Running Festival to raise funds and awareness for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s mission to find a cure for cystic fibrosis. Pick your distance from 26.2 miles to a 5K and challenge yourself to a new distance – physically and philanthropically!

Mission Statement:
The mission of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is to cure cystic fibrosis and to provide all people with the disease the opportunity to live full, productive lives by funding research and development, promoting individualized treatment and ensuring access to high-quality, specialized care.

About the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation:
Founded in 1955, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is the world’s leader in the search for a cure for cystic fibrosis. The Foundation was started by parents desperate to save their children’s lives. Their relentless and impassioned determination to prolong life has resulted in tremendous strides over the past 60 years in accelerating innovative research and drug development, as well as advancing care and advocacy. Virtually every approved cystic fibrosis drug therapy available now was made possible because of the Foundation and its supporters. Still, we believe no one should have to die at a young age. We will not rest until we have a cure for all people living with CF.

Better Todays:
In addition to adding tomorrows by pursuing innovative treatments, we’re also committed to helping people with CF live the best lives that they can today. Along with new therapies and a one-time cure, we’re still steadfast in our efforts to develop treatments that address the symptoms of CF. We are continuing to invest in CF care by increasing our support for the 120 centers in our innovative care network, with a focus on adult care and mental health. And we’re actively focused on lung transplant initiatives for the many adults with CF who need them. We are enabling efforts by and for people with CF. And we’re working diligently in the policy arena to ensure that people with CF have access to the care they need. In addition, CF Foundation Compass, exists to help people with CF and their families with insurance, financial, legal and other complex issues they are facing.

Team RUN GBMC participants will be fundraising for GBMC HealthCare’s Gilchrist Center Baltimore.

Gilchrist Center Baltimore is a 19-bed residential hospice designed to care for terminally-ill patients who are unable to remain in their own home or who have no able caregiver to assist them as their disease progresses. Gilchrist Center Baltimore serves about 150 terminally-ill individuals each year, most of whom are at-risk and medically underserved Baltimore City residents. As Gilchrist Center Baltimore is the only hospice facility in Baltimore City, it fills a significant lead and generally has a waiting list of eligible patients.

For 30 years, Gilchrist Center Baltimore has provided services to everyone, without discrimination and regardless of their ability to pay. Since most of our patients are un-insured/under-insured.Gilchrist Center Baltimore incurs about $1.2 million annually in uncompensated care costs.

The vision of GBMC HealthCare System is “To every patient, every time, we will provide the care we would want for our own loved ones”. Because of generous donors, and events like the Baltimore Running Festival Run for a Cause, the team at Gilchrist Center Baltimore is able to do just that. They treat the patients like they are their own family members.

“The people working there made me feel safe and comfortable. They made me feel like I was family.”
Gary, a grateful patient

For more information on team RUN GBMC, please contact Morgan Cook in the GBMC Philanthropy Department at 443-849-2120 or [email protected]. We’d love to have you and it’s just a great cause!

Helping Up Mission

Helping Up Mission is one of Baltimore’s oldest & largest non-profit 501(c)3 institutions, dedicated to serving the poor and homeless since 1885. HUM is privately funded by thousands of individuals, churches, community organizations, corporations and foundations that make over 40,000 contributions annually to support a $8,000,000+ annual budget.

Our Mission Statement: Helping Up Mission provides hope to people experiencing homelessness, poverty or addiction by meeting their physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs.

2017 Team HUM is a team of Helping Up Mission board members, staff, graduates, residents, donors, volunteers, family and friends who are participating in the 2017 Baltimore Running Festival. This team is formed to raise funds and awareness for the men that are served at the Mission who are facing their biggest challenge.

To learn more about Team HUM and supporting Helping Up Mission, please contact Barry at [email protected].

Johns Hopkins Children’s Center

In 2007, Team Sadie began running in the Baltimore Running Festival to raise money in support of Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in memory of Sadie Elizabeth Abell. After raising nearly $1 million, Team Sadie officially passed the baton to Johns Hopkins Children’s Center to carry on the mission by creating a team for the 2017 Baltimore Running Festival.

Johns Hopkins Children’s Center is Maryland’s largest children’s hospital with more than 110,000 patient visits and more than 8,500 admissions each year, with recognized centers of excellence in dozens of pediatric subspecialties.

For more information, or to register today to walk or run, and raise money for patients and families in need, please visit our website here. After raising just $250 we will register you for a race of your choice, and you will gain access to a Johns Hopkins Children’s Center technical running shirt, and the festivals most fun Post-Race party!

Sign up now to be a part of Team Kennedy Krieger at this year’s Baltimore Running Festival and we’ll pay your registration fee! The funds raised from the Kennedy Krieger Institute Baltimore Running Festival team will support our International Center for Spinal Cord Injury, where aggressive, innovative therapies help patients with spinal cord injuries recover. In addition, funds will support the training needs of patients with disabilities who participate in the event, through the purchase of adapted racing, training and therapy equipment. Recreational activities are often overlooked for individuals with disabilities, but Kennedy Krieger recognizes the important benefits of exercise for our patients, including improved health, self-esteem, social connections, and community reintegration.
To learn more about joining us at this year’s event, please visit www.kennedykrieger.org/baltimoremarathon.

Mercy Medical Center

Mercy Medical Center

Heat It To Beat It Running Team

Heat It To Beat It is a walk to raise funds and awareness for HIPEC treatment for Peritoneal Carcinomatosis (PC), a common and complex variety of cancers of the abdominal cavity. This cancer can originate from tumors of the appendix, colon, rectum, ovary, stomach, and small bowel, and from primary peritoneal tumors and mesothelioma.

The event supports Mercy’s research team which is working to provide scientifically proven treatments for patients with PC, and education in the medical community for this life saving research and treatment. Dr. Armando Sardi, Director of The Institute for Cancer Care at Mercy, and Dr. Vadim Gushchin, Director of Gastrointestinal Oncology, are specialists in the treatment protocol for patients with this disease using Heated IntraPeritoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC). For many patients, this is the only chance for long-term survival. Although there have been many scientific reports showing the benefit of this treatment, there is a lack of awareness about the disease and patients often struggle to be correctly diagnosed and treated.

Currently, Mercy is the only institution in the United States to explore HIPEC as an initial therapy for gynecologic malignancies including ovarian, primary peritoneal, and fallopian tube, making clinical research even more vital.

Now runners can support Heat It To Beat It too by joining the Heat It To Beat It running team at the Baltimore Running Festival. Choose any of the races at the Baltimore Running Festival and become a part of the team raising funds to support this important research. Register or learn more at www.heat-it.org.

National Black Marathoners Association (NBMA)

The National Black Marathoners Association (NBMA) is the largest and oldest, national, not-for-profit organization that supports Black American distance runners. The organization has awarded more than $10,000 in scholarships to college-bound, high school seniors. While there’s no annual membership fee to join, we ask that our members make a donation to the scholarship fund.

The NBMA’s Fourteenth Annual Summit will be held at the Baltimore Running Festival in 2018. We’re inviting all runners, running clubs, and social media running groups and movements to join us. We’ve been bringing Black running organizations together since 2005.

There’s a lot of rich African-American running history in the city. Baltimore is the hometown of National Black Distance Running Hall of Fame honoree, Marilyn Bevans. She was the two-time winner of the Maryland Marathon. This marathon was held from 1973 to 1980. She still resides in Maryland and is looking forward to seeing us and leading out the full marathon start!

With a 5K, half marathon, marathon, and marathon relay, there’s a race for all runners! There are even a couple of race series challenges. You may also consider running the Atlantic City Marathon/Halfathon or Marine Corps Marathon the next day.

If you or your Baltimore area running group is interested in running with us at the Baltimore Running Festival or working with us on the Summit, email Tony Reed at [email protected].

Pacing 4 Parkinson's

Pacing for Parkinson’s: Want to run for a great cause, meet wonderful people, and have a lot of fun? Run or walk with Pacing for Parkinson’s and join the fight against Parkinson’s disease! This is P4P 9th consecutive year at the Baltimore Running Festival. More than one million people in the United States battle Parkinson’s disease and there are 50,000-60,000 new cases each year. Typically affecting people between 55 and 65 years of age, this disease gradually strips away motor abilities, leaving patients with a slow and awkward gait, rigid limbs, tremor, shuffling, and a lack of balance. All proceeds will benefit the Johns Hopkins Parkinson’s Disease & Movement Disorder Center. As a P4P team member you will receive registration to the BRF, a technical team t-shirt, ongoing team support, and access to our private hospitality tent with bag check, team camaraderie and pre- and post- race refreshments. We look forward to seeing you on race day! Visit www.pacing4parkinsons.org to learn about our team or register. Contact: Don Long at [email protected] or (443) 248-4281.

Roland Park Fund

The Roland Park Public Annual Fund (The Annual Fund) supports school-wide academic and enrichment programs at Roland Park Elementary Middle School (RPEMS) to continuously improve the quality of education for over 1,300 RPEMS students. Started, led and supported by RPEMS parents, The Annual Fund is designed to make our public school the best it can be for our children and Baltimore City. Founded on the belief that education is critical to the advancement of our children and our community, The Annual Fund is dedicated to expanding the frontier of public education through creative resource development and sustained growth. The Annual Fund works with Principal D’Ambrosio, teachers, the PTA, and other school leaders to identify and prioritize school needs and areas that would benefit from additional resources.

Our focus is to ensure all students have a unique learning experience that involves direct interaction with people and places that enhance our standard academic curriculum by making learning fun and memorable. These experiences can include artist residencies in the school, as well as trips to the zoo, science center, museums, the Symphony, plays, and nearby cities. We are currently planning one quarterly experience for every student in every grade (that’s four or more per student). Most of these require additional resources to fund transportation, admission fees, speaker and performer fees, and additional materials for hands on learning.

The world-class medical team at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center (STC) is saving lives every day. In an instant, a person’s life is changed by trauma, but it takes time to heal the body and mind. Life after trauma, for our survivors, has many ups and downs. This includes set-backs and great accomplishments. As a person starts to physically recover from trauma, they also need to recover emotionally. The Trauma Survivors Network (TSN) is dedicated to providing resources to help with their road to recovery. Help the Shock Trauma Center Running Team support the Trauma Survivors today. Join us to run/walk, volunteer, or cheer on the running team and help make a difference in the recovery and lives of trauma patients. Please join our team and register today!

Signal 13 Foundation

The mission of the Frank J. Battaglia Signal 13 Foundation is to provide financial assistance to Baltimore Police Department Personnel, both civilian and sworn, who unexpectedly suffer extreme personal emergencies that are a result of personal financial mishaps. Since 1983, the Foundation has provided grants to Active Police Departmental Personnel, in need, who met the Foundation guidelines.